Disabled sports or more cigarettes? European Parliament votes cash for tobacco barons and none for Special Olympics
Posted, October 25, 2007 @ 00:00
Disabled sports or more cigarettes? European Parliament votes cash for tobacco barons and none for Special Olympics
Parliament shame for failing to put its money where its mouth is.
Conservatives have condemned "hypocritical" pork-barrel politicians in the European Parliament who today voted for £200 million to subsidise tobacco farmers whilst voting down a £350,000 project aimed at helping disadvantaged people across Europe improve their lives through sport.
Young people with and without disabilities could have started training and competing with one another across Europe if the Unified Sports Programme, run by Special Olympics, had won financial support in the 2008 EU Budget, voted on today.
Conservative MEPs wanted to cut tobacco production subsidies in the EU to zero, saving taxpayers millions of pounds.
Sports Spokesman for the Conservatives in the European Parliament Chris Heaton-Harris MEP, himself a professionally-trained referee, said:
"This decision is total hypocrisy. Subsidising tobacco production in the European Union is contrary to the EU Public Health programme and consequently represents very poor value for money for EU citizens.
"However, 2007 is the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All. It is hard to imagine a programme which is better suited to the aims and ideals of equal opportunities than the Special Olympics' Unified Sports Programme.
"The programme would have guaranteed those young, disadvantaged people access to training, competitions, social activities and events.
"Now it seems the Parliament, which constantly talks the talk on equal opportunities, simply can't put its money where its mouth is."